Prolexic Releases Threat Advisory To Detail Massive DDoS Threat From itsoknoproblembro

PRESS RELEASE

HOLLYWOOD, FL – (Jan. 3, 2013) – Prolexic, the global leader in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection services, today released a suite of detection and mitigation rules, a log analysis tool and a comprehensive threat advisory on the itsoknoproblembro DDoS toolkit. Considered to pose a very effective, multi-level threat, itsoknoproblembro has been the favored weapon in headline-making DDoS attacks against the US banking industry.

Malicious hackers are using the toolkit to target known vulnerabilities in web content management systems, including Joomla and WordPress, to infect web servers with malicious PHP scripts. The toolkit then leverages a unique, two-tier command mode that can launch multiple high-bandwidth attack types simultaneously. Some of these attacks have peaked at 70 Gbps and more than 30 million pps, a magnitude of traffic that demonstrably overwhelms most network infrastructures.

“Our security experts have successfully mitigated this threat multiple times, in tense, real-time digital battles,” said Prolexic Chief Executive Officer Scott Hammack. “This toolkit, which was dangerous to begin with, has been evolving rapidly over the past year, and has been increasingly used in coordinated campaigns targeting specific industries. The December attacks against the banking industry represented the fourth documented campaign against finance companies; we’ve also documented smaller campaigns against the energy and hosting provider industries.

“Given the chatter in the hacker underground, we expect these itsoknoproblembro DDoS campaigns will continue to grow in frequency,” Hammack added. “We want to support the security community by sharing our knowledge, so we can help eradicate this threat and remove these malicious scripts from infected machines before they do even more damage.”

The Prolexic Security Engineering & Response Team (PLXsert) first issued a public warning about itsoknoproblembro in October. The toolkit was also profiled in Prolexic’s Q3 2012 Attack Report.

The threat advisory issued today profiles 11 different attack signatures and provides detailed SNORT rules for DDoS mitigation. The attack vectors include POST, GET, TCP and UDP floods, with and without proxies, including a so-called Kamikaze GET flood script that can repeatedly relaunch automated attacks.

Additionally, PLXsert published a set of detection rules to identify infected web servers (bRobots), along with a free log analysis tool that can be used to pinpoint which scripts were accessed, by what IP address and for what DDoS targets. Armed with this information, the infected servers can be sanitized, preventing them from being used in subsequent itsoknoproblembro campaigns.

“The nature of these threats requires the cooperation of everyone in the network protection community to work together,” Hammack added. “Working with our fellow engineers and researchers, we will continue to provide free updates of this log analysis tool and encourage users to share their logs of compromised servers for continued analysis and refinement.”

A complimentary copy of the full DDoS threat advisory, including mitigation rules and detection rules, as well as the log analysis tool, BroLog, are available for download at www.prolexic.com/itsok.

Additional information on the itsoknoproblembro attacks and other recent DDoS trends will be shared in the Prolexic Q4 2012 Global DDoS Attack Report later this month.

About PLXsert

PLXsert monitors malicious cyber threats globally and analyzes DDoS attacks using proprietary techniques and equipment. Through data forensics and post attack analysis, PLXsert is able to build a global view of DDoS attacks, which is shared with customers. By identifying the sources and associated attributes of individual attacks, the PLXsert team helps organizations adopt best practices and make more informed, proactive decisions about DDoS threats.

Details of Prolexic’s mitigation activities and insights into the latest tactics, types, targets and origins of global DDoS attacks are provided in quarterly reports published by the company. A complimentary copy of Prolexic's Q4 2012 Global DDoS Attack Report will be available in January at www.prolexic.com/attackreports.

About Prolexic

Prolexic is the world’s largest, most trusted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation provider. Able to absorb the largest and most complex attacks ever launched, Prolexic restores mission-critical Internet-facing infrastructures for global enterprises and government agencies within minutes. Ten of the world’s largest banks and the leading companies in e-Commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel/hospitality, gaming and other at-risk industries rely on Prolexic to protect their businesses. Founded in 2003 as the world’s first in-the-cloud DDoS mitigation platform, Prolexic is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida and has scrubbing centers located in the Americas, Europe and Asia. To learn more about how Prolexic can stop DDoS attacks and protect your business, please visit www.prolexic.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ , YouTube , and @Prolexic on Twitter.